How can the Spirit be in our giving and serving? (Hebrews 10 and 1 John 4)

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October 6, 2013

Theme:  Giving is an act and an exercise of faith which opens our lives and prepares us for God’s next great directing in our lives. It also begins the work of looking beyond ourselves toward community, service and being about God’s work with others in the world.

Prayer

Teach us Lord to love you with all our heart, all our mind and all our strength.  As we journey together in faith, let us work together to be your hands in the world and giving freely to others the great gifts you have so freely shared with us.

Lessons

A Call to Persevere in Faith, Hebrews 10:19-25

Love One Another, 1 John 4:7-21

Bible Study on Heb 10 and I John 4

1) What is the best single gift you have been given?  That you have given to another?

2) Can you think of a time when you were blessed by another persons freely giving to you?

3) What lessons have you learned about the art of giving?

4) When and where do you feel your giving has made the most difference for others?  For yourself?

5) Is there a difference between the gift offered in love and a gift offered without love?  If so, What is the difference for the recipient?  For the giver?

6) Name one time when your gift was a part of a whole effort that really made a difference, or from which you are proud to have given your part?

7) Are there ministries, activities or accomplishments at church that make you proud to have been a part of making it happen?

8) As you think about your giving in the coming year, how can you give in such a way as to better be available for the lessons that God has to teach you about serving others?

9) Do you think that true love is a regular disciplined behavior or an occasional or spontaneous expression of passion and feeling?

10) What have you seen in others that makes you want to be a better expressing a vibrant faith?

11) How have you learned so far in your life about how to love other people?

12) Can you love your neighbor and not really love God?

13) Can you love God and really not be loving to others?  Why is this so?

14) How do “fear” and “love” relate to each other in your experience?

15) Is there a connection for you between the fact that “God is Love” (vs 8, 16) and the fact that God is light (1:5)?

Sermon from Good Samaritan Lutheran Church on Oct 6, 2013

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_pppPS_W4&w=420&h=315]

Objectives

• Reshape our thinking about how and when we give.

• Connect our individual giving to the combined efforts of the community of faith.

• Connect the art of giving and loving to the habit of making ourselves available to God.

• Ask God to make our giving and loving effective in building up our own faith and the faith of the community around us.

Action Step

• Anchor our serving and giving in showing the love we have been given from God.

  • As you prepare to give, search for a way to give in love.

  • Prayerfully fill out our plan for giving for the year.

  • Give thanks for God’s activity in learning to love others and begin to make connections with our plans for serving in the coming year.

  • Look for the activity and blessings of God in our giving and serving throughout the year ahead.

  • Share with someone else your plan to give and how it will be an expression of love for you.

Devotion

Johnny Appleseed: a lesson learned about giving our gifts.  In God’s economy – no gift given in faith is ever wasted.

Additional curriculum and ideas

• Make a list of the things you have given in the last month and be sure to include; time, friendship, care, food, dollars, transportation, a listening ear, etc.

• Make a list of the things others have done for you that make you want to care for other people in the same or similar ways.